Still in Istanbul and have been spending more time on the Asian side the last few weeks, visiting new places, accidentally finding others such as Küçüksu, and returning to some of my favorite spots including Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanic Garden (NGBB). During this post, I'll share some more plant observations from around the city and some photos from the Botanic Garden.
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| Photo by Oleksandr Ryzhkov |
Usually, I'm here in the winter and I'll bring some old bread with me to toss to the 100's of Gulls that follow the boats. The goals will eventually fly down and take the bread right out of your hand but during the summer, it seems, the birds have plenty of food elsewhere and don't bother with the people on the boats.
Plantings around the City
One example that really stood out for me was a 5m wide border of Sedum ground covers planted adjacent to the pathways in a residential block. The cover is composed of at least 3 species of Sedum, Sedum album on the right, Sedum acre with yellow flowers that can be seen in the third wider angled photo, and Sedem spurium - Caucasian Stonecrop on the left. We grow all of these plants in our gardens in Shipka as clumps of ground cover in dry sunny spots but it was really interesting to see them grown this way.
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| I'd love to see a multi-year time-lapse of these plants wrapping buildings! |
The majority of the residential properties in this city, which has been inhabited for over 2000 years, are no more than 40 years old and often younger. This is a result of Istanbul being within close proximity to the North Anatolian fault, a boundary between two major tectonic plates where devastating earthquakes occur frequently. There are, however, parts of the city where wooden Ottoman-style houses built from pine and oak in the 19th century, have been preserved in excellent condition but occasionally you will find one of these homes standing among the new concrete buildings. They are quite delightful, especially so this one in Besiktas that has been claimed by Vitis vinifera cv. - Grape and Prunus armeniaca - Apricot espalier.
Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanic Garden (NGBB)
Opuntia spp. growing in the Arid and Saline Garden where you can find a collection of xerophyte and halophyte species. I'm not sure of the species, but when we were kids we would travel to Malta, my Mother's home country, for the summer holidays and would enjoy feasting on the fruits of these plants that are quite delicious, if you know how to get into them, and even better when chilled in the fridge. Beware of the tiny spines, they look harmless but get them on your hands and it will feel like they are on fire.
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The Crevice garden on the top of a hill in the central garden is quite a spectacle featuring 145 taxa of mostly Turkish natives. These plants are generally from rocky habitats often found at high altitudes where they are protected from grazing animals by growing in rock crevices. The rocks have been arranged beautifully and the views from the hill of the surrounding city are amazing.
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| The crevice garden on the central island. The views of the surrounding city are awesome. In the left photo you can see the new financial district under construction and on the right, a mall, residential zone, and university that was completed five or six years ago. |
That's all for now. For what's going on in Shipka check out Sophie's blog here and here
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If you appreciate the work we are doing you can show your support in several ways.
Become a member of the Bloom Room. A $70 annual or $7 per month subscription to our Substack provides you with access to live sessions, design tutorials, a members forum and more, see details here.
Make a purchase of plants or seeds from our Nursery or Online Store
Joining us for one of our Practical Courses or Online Courses
Comment, like, and share our content on social media.
